For over a hundred years, farmers in Winters have known that the area has a unique microclimate that allows us to harvest summer fruit a week to two weeks earlier than most other areas in Northern California. Apricots, peaches, tomatoes, melons and watermelons all begin ripening at dates that correspond more closely to areas much further south, such as Fresno. Over the years, we have leaned into this niche, particularly with tomatoes. And by planting tomatoes in early March — two weeks or more earlier than anyone else in the area — we are often able to begin harvesting an additional week or two sooner.
This type of “season extension” is not without risk though. The first week of March is still officially winter, and can be just as cold and wet as January or February. We have to get enough dry weather to both prepare the field and then plant it. And once the tomatoes are planted, we have to be able to protect them from freezing. Some years, wet weather prevents or delays us from planting some of the field. Too much rain after planting can also stunt the plants. But most years, the plants make it through and then take off quickly when the weather warms.
In 2023 and 2024, the month of February was so wet that it caused problems with our field preparations and limited how many tomatoes we could plant in early March. In 2023, it then continued to rain so much in March, for so long, that part of the tomato field flooded, drowning the small plants and introducing root diseases. And the storms were so cold that any time we got a break in the weather, it got so cold that we had to turn on the sprinklers to keep the plants from freezing. Many of the plants died as a result and the ones that didn’t were seriously stunted.
By contrast, 2025 has provided us with a nice window of opportunity to get our first Tomato planting of 2025 in the ground. The dry spell in mid-February allowed us to prepare the field in a timely fashion, and then the rain stopped for just long enough again in early March to plant on warm, sunny days. Then, just a few hours after we finished planting, the rain started again and continued off and on for a week.
But rain is bad, right? Not necessarily. “Baby” tomato plants like the ones we planted last week actually enjoy a certain amount of rain, especially right after they are planted. The transplants we get from the commercial nursery are not like the ones you might see in the Garden section of your local hardware store or retail nursery: they are just a few inches tall with a very small root system and just a few cubic inches of soil from which to draw moisture. If that potting material dries out during the two weeks or so that it takes the plant to send new, bigger roots into the surrounding soil, the tiny plants will quickly dehydrate and die.
We often get strong, dry winds in the Spring that can blow for three days straight. During these conditions, it’s hard to keep the baby tomatoes wet even with sprinklers. If it’s raining, we don’t have to worry about that. Storm winds might beat the plants up a bit, but they don’t dry them out. Rain also takes care of the other main threat to the survival of the tomatoes: freezing temperatures. As long as it is damp and cloudy, the air can’t get cold enough this time of year to damage the plants.
With rain every day or two for a week after planting this year and no frost or wind, the 2025 tomatoes are off to a promising start. When the temperatures warm up early next week, they will be in great shape to take advantage of it. That’s never a guarantee that we’ll have a good season, but at least they’re not starting out with a strike or two against them.